A strong breeze caused the large bank of frilly green ferns to wave one way, and then the other.
The sound of water coursing over small flat rocks was punctuated by the calls of songbirds and the occasional buzz of a bee working at the patches of tall spire like flowers.
"I wonder how things are working out," Jiraiya said. He rubbed the back of his neck, concerned about Naruto. Swatting at a bee that came too close, he looked off into the forest. What happened with Tsunade? Who or what did she see when she woke up?"
Hearing something, the Legendary Sannin stood wary. He grinned, seeing Anko emerge from the nearest thicket. "Ho! Have you been haunting these woods like some mad spirit? Just what havoc have you managed?"
"Tsunade has led her new love and paramour to her makeshift bower. At least, that's what she thinks she has done. The poor fool, and the four jounin watching over the Hokage, can't figure out just what's wrong with her." Anko chuckled. "I had given the boy the head of an ass, and that was the form she saw him in first."
"Ahhh!Priceless. An artist's rendition of that scene will adorn the cover of my next book!" The Frog hermit rubbed his hands together in glee. "She will never live this one down, no matter what else happens." He looked over at Anko. "So, who was the unfortunate soul?"
"You would never guess," Anko said, grinning "Aburame Shino. He and his companions were working on some kind of scheme; but, he decided to head off on one of his little bug hunts. One friend called him an ass, and I made him so. After I chased off his co-conspirators, he walked in on Tsunade."
"I won't win her gratitude for this," Jiraiya said, with an understatement for the centuries. "'So it came to pass, Tsuande waked and loved an ass'. That will make a wonderful tavern song, don't you think?" He looked over at Anko. "So, did you do as I bid you? Were you able to dose Uchiha Sasuke with the elixir?"
"Yes," Anko said, wanting to head off and find out the results of that act. "I was able to carry off the jutsu perfectly. He was far enough ahead of the Haruno girl for me to deal with just him; but, she should have been by his side when he woke back up."
"Great. I will have to find some suitable way to reward you, if this works out the way that I planned." The Frog hermit frowned. They were about to be intruded upon. Again. "This is getting to be a habit! I can't believe how many people chose to be in this forest at this very time. It looks like we have company again. Let's see who this is. If we're fortunate, it will be Sasuke and Sakura, well along their way to a beautiful friendship."
"I can understand why you want to rebuke me for accepting your father's offer without speaking to you first." It was Sasuke. "I can also understand why you are frightened and concerned, faced with three choices you don't want to choose." But, walking with him was Hinata, who looked very upset. "Can't you see that this is all for the better. Not just for me, but for you as well?"
"I don't love you," Hinata said, as if that was the only answer she needed to give. "I don't even like you. Everybody knows who I c-care about. This is wrong." She took up a stance, looking as if she was ready to use the Gentle Fist on Sasuke, should he make any attempt to get any closer. "Your brother stole your life. I'm sorry. Stealing mine won't m-make up for that." She tried to control her breathing. She wasn't used to speaking emotionally like this.
"You are so bitter!" Sasuke said, running a hand through his long black hair. "It's something we have in common. Neither of us have much to lose right now." He stopped, looking around the area, as if worried Naruto might come charging in at any moment. "You are an afterthought to everyone. You always have been. Don't fool yourself into thinking that being seen with someone as noticeable as Naruto is going to change that." He frowned, trying to find some way to make the girl see the truth. "You may be viewed as insignificant; but, it would be worse to be hated. You don't understand how the villagers feel about him. You don't even know the reason why."
"It's a horrible choice." Hinata's voice cracked. "To be hated by the village, or to hate the one I am f-forced to marry. I would take my chance with Naruto." She fought back tears. Uchiha sasuke did not deserve to see them. "Things can change. He helped me prove that to myself." It was her time to search the clearing, hand held over her brow to keep the sun out of her eyes. "I haven't found Naruto. If you k-killed him, you might as well kill me too."
"I haven't done anything to harm him," Sasuke said, spreading his arms wide in a look of innocence. "But, I'm not surprised to have someone accuse me of something I haven't done." He stiffened up some. His decision to seek out Orochimaru would always be one or two steps behind him, hiding in his shadow. "Seeing that your father has already made his decision, and has the strength of the law behind him, the only one who can hurt Naruto is you."
"No. That's n-not true. You trained with Orochimaru." Hinata had the urge to run and hide. She wouldn't. Naruto was out here somewhere, and might need her help. "You are just another snake. Your b-bite will kill me, and wound your friend. You… you don't… you don't have to go along with my father…"
"You are just as emotional as the other girls," Sasuke said, making a disgusted face. "It is enough that I have to endure Sakura's refusal to see the truth!" He clenched both fists. "Your father will have his way. If it's not me, it will be someone else. I know that. You need to accept it. That's why I accepted his offer. You can do me much more good than you can do anyone else."
"My father does not own me," Hinata said, unable to hold back the tears. "You just want to use me, like he does. Naruto cares about me." She tried to stand taller, wanting to use her anger the way that Naruto often did. But, that just wasn't her. "M-My death would hurt him. But I don't want to die." She bean walking into the middle of the stream, feeling the current push against her calves. "Naruto-kun! Naruto-kun, can you hear me?" She spoke to Sasuke, who walked along the bank: "If I were sent to a convent, that would hurt him too. B-But I don't want to go to a convent." She continued to splash along, praying that she didn't find Naruto's body face down somewhere.
"So, those are the only choices you will entertain?" Sasuke's face grew very dark. Part of him wanted to just give in to her wishes, washing his hands of this whole nasty business. But, sitting in Orochimaru's cells at night under heavy guard, and training with him during the day to grow stronger, he promised him to rebuild his clan, to make it even stronger than it was before. He owed that to his mother and father. It didn't matter if his friends hated him. "Death, or hiding away in some nunnery, letting other people dictate your life?" He stopped, his hair blowing in a sudden stiff breeze. "Isn't that quitting? How could Naruto respect anyone who did that? Why should anyone?"
"Owww…" Hinata stumbled when her foot stepped on a sliding submerged rock. She ended up on her hands and knees, water rushing around her. Those words had caused her to stumble as much as the slippery stone had. Closing her eyes, she felt the tug of the current. It showed that she was there in the stream. It showed that she was alive, holding her ground. "If I gave in, and did what my father wanted, that would be quitting," she said, in a voice barely audible above the noise of the brook. Slowly standing, she looked over at Sasuke. "Leave me alone."
After a drenched Hinata continued on her way, Sasuke stood still a moment, before shaking his head and going on his way. He had spoken his piece. The girl had refused to see reason. But, she was sticking to her own beliefs. He couldn't help but feel a grudging respect for that.
"What did you do?" Jiraiya's vest flared out in the breeze, and his hair was buffeted by the short bursts of wind. "You must have made some kind of mistake." Maybe he should have done it himself. But, if he had been caught, Hyuuga Hiashi might have been able to convince his peers that the Legendary Sannin were acting above the law, and that would have implicated Tsunade falsely.
"I struck him in the eyes with the potion! I saw him blink, and watched him fall." Anko sounded defensive, as she wondered what could possibly have gone wrong. "I did the hand seals exactly as I was shown. Is it possible that Uchiha Sasuke is immune to the effects of the potion?"
"Did you check to see if had truly fallen asleep?" Jiraiya scratched his head, trying to think what might have happened. The boy couldn't have expected the attempt, and had no reason to pretend that he had been knocked out. "More important, did you check to see that it was actually Uchiha Sasuke, and not someone taking his form?"
"Why would anyone do that?" Anko asked, taken aback. Maybe she had taken things too lightly, making too many assumptions. "I didn't want to risk his seeing me when he awoke. I had no idea how long the slumber might last. I also didn't want Haruno Sakura to catch sight of me."
"I see," Jiraiya said. "Yes, if we were to leave the Uchiha boy in love with her, it would have been unkind to let her know that his feelings were due to the elixir." He shook his head grimacing. It had been such a good plan. But, there had always been room for a lot of uncertainty.
"I don't understand why anyone would have taken his form? You don't think that someone would kill Sasuke, assume his form, and then be seen leaving the village again, do you?" Anko had a very suspicious mind. Being Orochimaru's apprentice can do that to a person. "I can't believe that Naruto would go that far,"
"You're right, he wouldn't," the Frog hermit replied. "But, I wouldn't put it past him and his devious little mind to come up with some other scheme. If he was the one you anointed, then we have an even bigger problem than before."
"If he sees someone other than Hyuuga Hinata…" Anko blanched. "Oh, shit!" She could imagine all sorts of possibilities. "Imagine if he were to fall in love with Sasuke!"
"I don't know if even the potion could do that!" Jiraiya made a face as if he were sick. "Uchiha Sasuke would be the last person in existence that the boy would have any feelings for." He tapped one finger against his cheek. "If he fell in love with some kind of forest creature, Hinata might think he was joking around, or worry that he was delusional after being attacked."
"But, if he were to stumble across the Hokage… Yugao… or Haruno Sakura…" Anko went stiff, feeling a chill crawl up her back like a large spider with cold feet. "And if Hinata thought that he loved someone other than her…"
"She might break down, and accept the marriage," the old pervert said. "She might run away from the village altogether, bringing the Ninja Hunters after her, seeking to keep the Hyuuga secrets out of enemy hands." He scowled. "Or…"
"Or… she might take her own life…" Anko hung her head, angry at herself. She had played this too much like a game, rather than a serious mission with lives at stake.
"You need to hurry off now!" Jiraiya took out his phial and checked the amount of liquid left. There was plenty. "Let me see yours. Fine. You have enough, too." He put the bottle away. "There are things we must do. Uchiha Sauke still needs to be dosed, preferably around the Haruno girl. If Naruto was indeed the one you struck earlier, he will need the antidote." He checked for additional empty bottles. He gad none. There would be only one container of antidote. "If we come across Hinata, she needs to be told the truth."
Jiraiya and Anko set off in different directions, but not too far away from one another. They would sweep the forest as a pair, overlapping their search areas to prevent anyone from sneaking past unseen.
Moving swiftly and following Sasuke's trail, Anko happened upon the dark-haired boy as he sought a way out of the forest. Even though he was on the alert for any possible attack, knowing that any number of people might like to use this whole matter as an excuse to rid the village of him, he was taken by surprise in much the same way that Naruto had been. Anko was very skilled when she put her mind too it.
Slinging the unconscious Sasuke over her shoulder, Anko headed in the direction that would bring her back near the Frog Hermit. Seeing him, she was about to call out when he raised his hand and ordered to stop and take cover. Listening a moment more, he made his way to her side.
"I've located Naruto. He's headed in this direction, with Sakura." He nodded his head, knowing that he had no reason to get his hopes too high yet. "This may be easier than we thought. If I can give Naruto the antidote, and you can make certain that Sakura is the first one that Sasuke sees when he wakes up, thinks will be right where we want them!"
"I managed to perform my task without being seen," Anko said. "This stuff is really potent! It works so quickly, that it would be useful in battle." She counted herself lucky. It would have been rather unfortunate to get in any kind of prolonged confrontation with either Naruto or Sasuke. They, along with Sakuara, were well on the way to being stronger than their three famous teachers.
"That's true," Jiraiya said. "But, it is difficult and time consuming to make. And, it would feel wrong, using a love potion to help kill or capture the enemy."
Anko snorted, making her opinion known. "I take it we must still keep our actions secret? This stuff won't wipe away the memory of anything they see before falling asleep."
"Should anyone find out, Tsunade will also find out." The Frog Hermit scratched one arm. "If anyone breaks the news to her, it should be me." He grinned. The look on her face would be priceless, worth any damage he might take. "The lovebirds won't forget a thing. But, as long as they are being moved by their passions, they won't stop to wonder how things have may have miraculously changed."
The two skulking shinobi went silent as Sakura walked into a shaded area underneath large slanted trees. Right behind her, arms waving in animated fashion, came Naruto.
"Sakura-chan! Hey, slow down, Sakura-chan!" Naruto created a large number of clones, who moved to hem the pink-haired girl in long enough for him to catch up. "Why won't you believe me? Look at me. I'm not scorning you. Does scorn come with tears?" An enamored Naruto was weeping, overcome by his potion-altered emotions.
"This is really stupid... even for you!" Sakura struck the nearest clone so forcefully, that it impacted the next before popping out of existence. Soon, the clones fell like dominoes, leaving a large ring of whispy smoke. "It's not funny. It's cruel. You've never been cruel before. "She was not about to examine him again for injuries. When she tried before, Naruto had come very close to kissing her. "Even if you did care about me, how can you keep chasing after me, knowing that Hinata is somewhere worried about you?"
"If I'm stupid, it's because my love for you makes me stupid." Naruto coughed, breathing in the smoke from his departed clones. "I don't know what came over me before, thinking that Hinata was the one for me. It has always been Sakura!" He sighed. "It's cruel of you to deny my honest feelings. But, it's funny how that makes me want you even more…"
"But I don't feel that way about you!" Sakura wanted to hit something else. She had been feeling so down before, ashamed that her longing for Sasuke had been making her weak again, after all of the personal progress she had made. At least this foolishness of Naruto's was lighting the fire within her again. Whether or not he might truly be willing to disregard Hinata's feelings, she wasn't. "Hinata does. Now of all times, she needs your help. Who knows what she might do if she thinks you don't really care!"
"Sasuke doesn't care about you," Naruto said. "But I do." He held out his arms again, wanting to take her into his embrace. "Sasuke wants to marry Hinata, not you. It's good to be wanted. Who knows that better than Uzumaki Naruto? If you girls give in, all four of us could be happy." With his mind the way it was, there was no way that he could see things logically.
Propped up against a moss covered tree, Sasuke began to stir, moaning ever so slightly.
"Damn!" Anko quickly pulled the awakening boy to his feet, covered his eyes with her hand, placed her foot on his rump, and pushed him roughly out through a group of tall entangled shrubs.
"Oh Sakura," Sasuke said, his vision coming into focus as he regained his balance. "Standing there in that shaft of light, you look like a goddess… a nymph… perfect." His face showed an openness that no one in Konoha had ever seen before. "Your eyes. Those clear green eyes. What can a compare them to? Emeralds are nothing in comparison."
Naruto began growling. Sasuke again. With Sakura, Sasuke always got in his way. At least before, the arrogant and selfish bastard had always ignored her.
"Your lips, like cherries to be kissed, they tempt me more than power ever did!" Sasuke held his arms wide apart. "And your white skin, it is purer than any snow that we crossed to rescue that princess."
"Ple-e-e-e-ase…" Anko made a face, as if she were about to gag. "Sasuke would let himself be killed in Hinata's place, if he ever realized what he was saying.
"Shhhh!" Jiraiya was busy scribbling everything down.
"You too?" Sakura said incredulously. "Now you decide to make fun of me for your amusement? You can't bring yourself to hurt me some physical way, so you settle for this?" She put a hand to her head, wondering if she was delirious or something. Naruto abandoning Hinata? Sasuke babbling romantic nonsense? It was like something out of a strange dream. "You two are rivals… but not for me."
"Sasuke! You big jerk!" Naruto clenched his fists and widened his stance. "You know that you want to marry Hinata. Fine! I won't do anything to stand in your way. All you need to do is cut the crap and leave Sakura to me. I would never be a traitor to her, like you probably would. "
"Naruto!" Sasuke sneered, curling his lip. He shook his head in a condescending manner. "Keep your Hyuuga girl. I want nothing to do with her. I never felt any love for her; instead, I have finally admitted my feelings for Sakura."
"Well, that's a good start…" Anko wondered how Jiraiya would give Naruto the antidote, hoping that the boys wouldn't suddenly begin fighting. She asked the hermit just that.
"It's your job," Jiraiya said, lying. "Since you messed everything up." He smiled. "The remedy is in the form of a suppository."
"Shit!" Anko said, no pun intended. She blinked repeatedly… shook her head… and wrapped her hand around her knife. "No… f-cking… way!"
"You know, you're quite lovely when you want to hurt someone." The Legendary Sannin chuckled, holding up the antidote phial. "I only need to splash this on Naruto's eyes to reverse the effect of the elixir." He looked over to one side when a bevy of quail took to the wing. "Uh oh…"
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata caught sight of her fellow shinobi, but her eyes saw only Naruto. She put a hand to her chest, feeling weak in the knees with relief. "I was so worried when we were attacked, and I couldn't find any sign of you." Her eyes watered some. "But why… ummm… why didn't you… why didn't you try to find me? Was it Sasuke?"
"I followed my heart!" Naruto said, striking a Lee-like pose. "When I found love, I had to chase after. I couldn't give up on it, just as I would never quit trying to be Hokage."
"L-Love…" Hinata wrung her hands together. She didn't understand what Naruto meant. "How could l-love take you away from me… ummm… instead of bringing you back to me?"
"Waking in the forest, I happened to see the truth!" Naruto took a step closer to Sakura, growling when Sasuke did the same. It took me a while to learn my true talents as a ninja," he said. "But, once I found out how strong I could be, I knew what I had to do." He turned his back on Hinata entirely, so he could watch Sakura's face. "When I realized how much I loved Sakura, I had no choice but to follow her. That's my Ninja Way!"
"N-Naruto-kun…" Hinata felt as if the world around her was spinning. "You can't mean that…"
"Are you part of this game too, Hinata?" Sakura turned an angry eye on her friend. "It's all too convenient, how each of you shows up around me at the same time." She looked very much like Tsunade for a moment, her eyes flashing and her lips flattening out. "How could you be so ungrateful? I'm your friend. I came out here today to help you and Naruto!"
"I'm not… I'm not playing any game, Sakura." Hinata leaned out to steady herself against a tree once struck by lightning. "I am your friend. How could you ever think b-badly of me?"
"I… it's…" Sakura hated thinking poorly about anyone she cared for. But, things were just too strange. None of this made any sense. "Why else would Naruto come looking for me, when he was with you? Did you and he come to some agreement with Sasuke, so that he will stop siding with your father?" Her hands twitched. Maybe that made some sense. "As part of the bargain, you are all making fun of me, because I made Sasuke angry by chasing after him? I'm out of here!"
"Why would he and I ever w-want to do that…" Hinata was stunned. First by hearing what Naruto had said, and now by Sakura's accusations. "N-neither of us would hurt a friend to get what w-we want…" She didn't say that such a plan was something that Sasuke might do.
"No! Don't go, Sakura. You are my heart and my soul!" Naruto said, his voice going thick with emotion.
"Right! Your joke is so funny!" Sakura began trembling with rage, her sadness threatening to overwhelm her first.
"Naruto-kun… please…" Hinata saw the look in Sakura's eyes. "Don't tease her this way!" She wanted to say 'please don't hurt me this way'.
"If the girl's request can not persuade you to stop mocking Sakura, I can force you to be kind to her!" Sasuke took up a fighting stance, his eyes narrowed and his face a mask of hatred.
"You can't stop me from loving Sakura, traitor." Naruto bit off his words, orange chakra beginning to swirl around him. "No more than I could stop you from running off to your boyfriend Orochimaru!" His face softened when he looked at Sakura. "I love you, Sakura-chan. Promise of a Lifetime!" He looked so sincere, that Hinata gasped, tears coming to her eyes. "How can I prove that to you?"
"I love you more than any pathetic fool like Naruto ever could!" Sasuke claimed, wishing that he could still access the curse seal that Orochimaru had given him. For Sakura, he would stop Naruto again, just as he had at the Valley of the End.
"Oh yeh!" Naruto rubbed his nose and made a flippant gesture. "Talk is cheap, pretty boy! Why don't we head over to the next clearing and see just who loves Sakura the most." He laced his fingers together and cracked his knuckles. "I'll kick your ass."
"Let's do it again, dumb ass!" Sakura brushed off his sleeves, acting as if he could easily do the same to Naruto. "You always were too stupid to see the truth, without someone pounding it into your thick skull for you."
"N-No!"Hinata moved to grab Naruto's arm. "Naruto-kun… don't…"
"I see. Let the other girl hold you back." Sasuke laughed and flipped at his hair. "You would hide behind just such a small thing. She's made you weak."
"Let go of me!" Naruto pulled his arm do fiercely, that Hinata was dragged along with it and thrown hard to the ground. "I don't need to stick to me like these damn burrs…" he grabbed a handful of thistle heads and cockleburs that had snagged in his jumpsuit. He threw them down on Hinata.
"Naruto-kun… why…" Hinata picked herself off of the ground slowly, cradling her injured arm to her. "I love you…"
"You love me?" Naruto looked annoyed. "What does that matter? I could hate you easier than I could ever truly love you."
"Good going…" Jiraiyas said to Anko, his face clouding over. "Now we're worse off than when we started." The only way to blunt the sting of Naruto's words would be to tell Hinata what was going on. He might have to risk letting them all in on his secret, to make certain that the girl didn't run off and do something drastic.
"I…" Anko grabbed a stick without paying attention to her actions. It split down the middle when she clenched her fist too tightly. "You..." She should have known better than to get involved in any kind of scheme thought up by Jiraiya. "You're very welcome."
"B-B-But…" Hinata strove mightily to maintain her composure. Was Naruto putting on some kind of act? Had he somehow managed to change Sasuke's mind about Sakura by pretending to compete with him for her? He couldn't actually mean what he said, could he?"
"Sasuke! Let's go!" Naruto began to feel very excited. The prospect of fighting with Sasuke again struck a chord strong enough to be felt along with desire he felt for Sakura. Indeed, the two things could serve one another. His feelings for the girl would make him fight harder. His victory over his rival would prove his love to Sakura and win her regard.
"No!" Sakura shouted. "Enough!" The Inner Sakura was carrying on far more than she was. There was no way that she would repeat what that part of her was saying, not with Hinata present. "I don't want either of you two either of you two idiots to fight for me… pretend, or for real." She turned her attention to Hinata. "How can you play along with this stupidity? What if one of them were to get seriously hurt? How can you call yourself Naruto's girlfriend?"
Hinata opened her mouth to deny Sakura's claims. But, before she could speak, Naruto did. "Hinata no longer has any right to call herself my girlfriend. She's a dwarf. An acorn. If you don't want to call yourself my girl, I don't want anyone doing it." He thumped himself in the chest. "Don't worry, I wont get hurt."
"N-Naruto-kun…" Hinata shrunk in on herself some more, despite trying valiantly to maintain her spirit. Finally, unable to stop herself, she took off running, headed who knows where.
"What fools these shinobi be," Anko said, shaking her head. She couldn't believe just how many knots they had managed to tie themselves into, thanks to a few drops of ointment. Keeping a straight face, she promised herself to keep some of the powerful potion. There was someone in particular who deserved to taste its effectiveness firsthand.
"Tell me about it," the Frog hermit grumped. "I have a new task for you. Don't screw up this one." He smiled, seeing the look in Anko's eyes. This was good for her. She had always been one who excelled at dishing it out. Now, she needed some lessons in taking it. "Catch up to Hinata and explain things to her. Hurry, before she does something rash. Then, the two of you tell what you know to Sakura. I will keep those two hotheaded lovebirds flying this way and that until you find us again, or they drop from exhaustion."
Anko, feeling passive aggressive, ran first to Sakura, ordering her to stay near the brook. She told the befuddled girl that things were not what they seemed, and that an explanation would be coming before too long. After that, she set out after Hinata.
Jiraiya, on the other hand, relished the chance to show the two boys that they both had a great deal to learn. Necessity they say, is the mother of invention. Unlike Kakashi, who invented Chidori as an assassination technique, he had a much different source of inspiration. There were those who called him pervert. Instead, they should view him as a master of seduction and persuasion. There was much that he could get women to tell him… or even do with him… if only they thought he was someone he was not. Henge was simple enough, even with special refinements that he had developed. But, like the kitsune and tanuki of legend, he could imitate more than shape and form. He could mimic voices as well.
"I best move with some haste," Jiraiya said, looking up at the sky. "Before we know it, night's swift dragons will soon cut away those clouds." He laughed. There really wasn't time enough for him to be poetic. He had no desire to be chasing besotted ninjas through a dark forest!
"Sasuke! Where are you Sasuke!" That was Naruto, yelling at the top of his lungs. If was surprising that the loud-mouthed boy hadn't gone hoarse by now. "Come on and fight me you snake loving coward!"
"I'm over here, you stupid ass!" Jiraiya imitated Sasuke, while rushing through the upper level of the forest canopy. Anything he could get his hands on, he gathered up and threw hard down at Naruto. Acorns, breadfruit, hornet's nests, even a hissing possum.
"I'm coming Sasuke!" Naruto's vice grew louder as he approached while shouting out epithets.
Chuckling, the Frog hermit flashed away, hearing another voice cry out. "Naruto! Where are you, you stupid braggart!" It was Sasuke. "I won't let you trespass where your feelings are unwanted."
"Sasuke! Where are you Sasuke!" Jiriaya used Naruto's own words. How was that for authentic! "Come on and fight me you snake loving coward!" He couldn't help but smile. The boy had a way with words. Just as he had harassed Naruto, he did whatever he could to incense Sasuke while staying one step ahead of him.
Back and forth he went. First he would lead Naruto in circles, and then Sasuke, being careful that they never ran into one another. This would make yet another wonderful entry in one of his books. A future Hokage and a Clan Leader chasing their tails in the forest. Splendid. Wonderful. Marvelous.
Finally, hearing a long drawn out whistle, he knew that Anko had done her part. Having barely worked up a sweat, he abandoned his fun and led a thoroughly angry Naruto and a markedly disgusted Sasuke back to the clearing by the stream.
It was time to start putting things to right.